In a dire state

Mr President Asif Ali Zardari and Mr Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, I hope you are doing great in your big lavish castles. You are the only people in this country who are living a happy and comfortable life. Blessings are only showered on those who do not complain. This clearly explains the plight of the citizens of this country who are always moaning about the skyrocketing inflation, gas, electricity, load-shedding and other grievances.

I do not know whether you are aware of this bit of information or not since you are busy making other important decisions and offering new surprises to the nation like raising petrol and CNG prices and planning junkets abroad. Over the past five months, no funds have been released to the Baitul Mal. For millions of poor patients seeking treatment, these funds offer a speck of hope. Among many others, there is a lady who was recently diagnosed with blood cancer around the time that her wedding date was set. But this poor woman, the sole breadwinner of her family, does not have the required money for her treatment. One can find many such painful stories outside hospitals around the country.

On the one hand, the managing director of Baitul Mal, Zamrud Khan, is busy in generating funds for the Sweet Home project for orphans. But I wonder who will generate funds for those millions of poor souls who are suffering from unbearable pain on their deathbeds waiting for the money that will make their survival possible.

However, on the other hand, one of the biggest government hospitals in the capital, Polyclinic, has stopped dispensing medicine to poor people due to financial constraints. People are now forced to buy medicines from elsewhere.

Considering that this is the situation in the capital, one can only imagine the conditions of hospitals in the rural areas. Morbid though it sounds, perhaps this is the government’s attempt to control the increasing population – by killing innocent people.

I wonder how this government is going to observe World Health Day, which occurs every year on April 7, when they have essentially deprived their countrymen of basic health facilities, among other fundamental rights.